I’ve conducted a few lessons recently that have centered around the same general topic, so I thought I’d briefly write about it.

The topic is connection, or another way of describing it would be pressure.

Are you applying pressure in the correct manner and in the correct places during the swing?

Are you applying pressure under your feet? your arms against your torso? your hands against the club?

In many cases, chances are you’re not – and anyone of these pressure points described above (if not applied correctly) can have a debilitating effect on your swing.

I could go on for hours about the feet being connected to the ground, or why the three pressure points in the hands are so important. But one issue that seems to plague golfers the most is an inability to keep the arms connected to the torso.

There are a number of ways of building up the correct sensation. Place a tee peg under each arm pit while swinging. The objective is to hit balls without the tee pegs falling out from under your arms.

You can train with a Tour Striker Smart Ball. Click here to watch the video by Martin Chuck

Or you can place a towel under your arms and practice hitting balls while keeping the towel firmly against your torso. The only way to do this is by keeping your arms pinched against your torso throughout the whole move.

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This kind of connection is essential as it not only keeps your arms and body connected during the takeaway and backswing, but it will help you feel your upper body pulling/rotating during the transition into your downswing which pulls your arms down back in front of your body. This could be described as the upper left torso pulling the upper left arm. If there’s no connection – there’s no pulling!

And if there’s no pulling, there’s no LAG!

Don’t forget the literal translation of LAG is “Something that lags behind something else”..

The body pulls the arms, which pull the hands, which lags the club head behind.

If the body isn’t pulling/rotating to begin your downswing, you can bet by the time your club reaches impact the shaft isn’t leaning forward enough. You’ll hit top shots, thin shots and your ball striking won’t be very consistent.

Here’s a short video illustrating the Towel Under The Arms Drill.

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